ShareThisVery dangerous men steadily are being brought to justice. Viktor Bout, rightly labeled "The Merchant of Death," is being extradited from Thailand, where he was arrested two years ago.
Initially, the Thai government vetoed extradition, and an earlier court ruling denied extradition. The turnabout reflects very intense continuous pressure by the United States government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately praised the Bangkok decision.
The former Soviet army officer Bout became very rich dealing in weapons, drugs and other criminal commodities on a vast global scale. In the book "Merchant of Death,'' which documents his extraordinary career, authors Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun provide explicit details regarding a global trail written in blood. Wholesale death literally has been his occupation. Bout's arrest in a luxury hotel in Southeast Asia was a victory for basic morality and common decency as well as law enforcement.
One big customer of the Merchant was the FARC, the powerful criminal military organization that controls extensive territory in Colombia.
Bout's large fleet of private aircraft flew in guns and ammunition, and ferried out drugs for sale. The arms reportedly originated in Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia. The Merchant is also accused of dealing with al Qaeda and the Taliban, though he has gone to some lengths to deny these charges.
Initially based in Russia, Bout moved his operations to Belgium, then the United Arab Emirates. For years, he kept just ahead of a comprehensive global law-enforcement effort to take him down. Snaring him is dramatic indication the rule of law is growing in global terms.
While Bout is being transported to face justice, the war crimes trial at the Hague of former Liberia dictator Charles Taylor continues. A few days after Bout was seized, accused war criminal Momcilo Jovanovic was arrested while visiting a graveyard in the village of Vitomirica in Kosovo. He was a leader in murderous Serb "ethnic cleansing.''
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Yugoslav ethnic divide, is the trial of Croatian General Ante Gotovina. "Operation Storm'' was led by Gotovina in 1995. The words accurately reflect the Nazi sentiments involved in this offensive of terror and murder. The operation left 150 people dead and razed villages. Nevertheless, Gotovina is still viewed as a hero in some parts of Croatia.
If this brief brutal list indicates such practices are removed from the United States, think again. Edwin P. Wilson, a retired U.S. intelligence pro, went to work for terrorist state Libya in the 1970s.
Wilson recruited highly trained military veterans, including U.S. Army Green Berets, for Col. Qaddafi's regime.
Killings in Colorado as well as Germany were blamed on Wilson's very lethal crew. Alleged deals, backed by substantial evidence, included shipping 20 tons of C-4 plastic explosives to Libya in chartered planes. Wilson became a U.S. law enforcement priority. Libya refused to extradite him but imaginative American operatives set up a lucrative bogus deal and lured him to the Caribbean, where he was arrested.
Wilson spent almost three decades in prison, but then was released. A federal judge declared the CIA and Department of Justice had acted improperly regarding the trial, overturned his conviction and he was freed from prison in 2004.
By definition, the rule of law puts the same obligations on all parties, innocent and guilty, just and unjust. The goal is great, and the process quite often painful.
(Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College in Wisconsin. He can be reached at acyr(at)carthage.edu.)
COLUMN
Prohibition breeds corruption and violence
Prohibition is a sickening horror and the ocean of censorship, hypocrisy incompetence, corruption and human wreckage it has left in its wake is almost endless.
Prohibition has decimated generations and criminalized millions for a behavior which is entwined in human existence, and for what other purpose than to uphold the defunct and corrupt thinking of a minority of misguided, self-righteous Neo-Puritans and degenerate demagogues who wish nothing but unadulterated destruction on the rest of us.
Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation.
By its very nature, prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model - the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous and ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved. Thus, the allure of this reliably and lucrative industry, with it's enormous income potential that consistently outweighs the risks associated with the illegal operations that such a trade entails, will remain with us until we are collectively forced to admit the obvious.
A great many of us are slowly but surely wising up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco, clearly two of our most dangerous mood altering substances. But for those of you whose ignorant and irrational minds traverse a fantasy plane of existence, you will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to your absurd and unattainable utopia of a drug free society.
There is therefore an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. Anybody 'halfway bright', and who's not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem, it is our refusal to allow legal businesses to meet that demand. If you are not capable of understanding this connection then maybe you're using something far stronger than the rest of us. So put away your pipe, lock yourself away in a small room with some tinned soup and water, and try to crawl back into reality A.S.A.P.
Because Drug cartels will always have an endless supply of ready cash for wages, bribery and equipment, no amount of tax money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safe again. Only an end to prohibition can do that! How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?
If you support the Kool-Aid mass suicide cult of prohibition, and erroneously believe that you can win a war without logic and practical solutions, then prepare yourself for even more death, tortured corpses, corruption, terrorism, sickness, imprisonment, economic tribulation, unemployment and the complete loss of the rule of law.
"A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."
Abraham Lincoln
The only thing prohibition successfully does is prohibit regulation & taxation while turning even our schools and prisons into black markets for drugs. Regulation would mean the opposite!
General Gotovina
Mr. Arthur I. Cyr
You as “Distinguished Professor” you should know better then accused the man who is still on trial, unless you are judge and jury, and have a nails in your brain. This is what you wrote:
“”””Meanwhile, on the other side of the Yugoslav ethnic divide, is the trial of Croatian General Ante Gotovina. "Operation Storm'' was led by Gotovina in 1995. The words accurately reflect the Nazi sentiments involved in this offensive of terror and murder. The operation left 150 people dead and razed villages. Nevertheless, Gotovina is still viewed as a hero in some parts of Croatia.”””
“Distinguished Professor” how stupid this sound
War Criminals
The piece makes clear that Bout - and others - are accused. Evidence against him in the public domain is formidable, but the point is also made that he faces trial. Try to avoid personal insults and name calling - you'll be much more effective. Thanks for writing, Art Cyr
General Gotovina
Mr. Arthur I. Cyr
You as “Distinguished Professor” you should know better then accused the man who is still on trial, unless you are judge and jury, and have a nails in your brain. This is what you wrote:
“”””Meanwhile, on the other side of the Yugoslav ethnic divide, is the trial of Croatian General Ante Gotovina. "Operation Storm'' was led by Gotovina in 1995. The words accurately reflect the Nazi sentiments involved in this offensive of terror and murder. The operation left 150 people dead and razed villages. Nevertheless, Gotovina is still viewed as a hero in some parts of Croatia.”””
“Distinguished Professor” how stupid this sound
General Gotovina
Mr. Arthur I. Cyr
You as “Distinguished Professor” you should know better then accused the man who is still on trial, unless you are judge and jury, and have a nails in your brain. This is what you wrote:
“”””Meanwhile, on the other side of the Yugoslav ethnic divide, is the trial of Croatian General Ante Gotovina. "Operation Storm'' was led by Gotovina in 1995. The words accurately reflect the Nazi sentiments involved in this offensive of terror and murder. The operation left 150 people dead and razed villages. Nevertheless, Gotovina is still viewed as a hero in some parts of Croatia.”””
“Distinguished Professor” how stupid this sound